I’ve had this pattern since about February. My dad and I were heading out to photograph some bald eagles (and an AMAZING hoar frost) the next morning and I didn’t want to be hatless. Something I’ve learned about myself over the years is that if I get cold I get pretty whiny. Since it was going to be frigid I decided I needed to make a hat.

I used to have this awesome fleece hat that was so incredibly warm and had an attached, drop down/fold up into the hat balaclava. Somehow I lost it after a few years, but I found this pattern and it looked very similar.

I went to Jo-Ann’s about a half an hour before they closed that night. I found some pretty ugly dark brown heavier fleece and came home with every intention of making this hat that night. The only problem with this was that by the time I got home it was pretty late, and I had to meet my dad at his house at 4am. And he lives about a half an hour away. I went to sleep instead. And the hat pattern & fabric sat. For 10 months. In the bottom of a closet.

Its been an incredibly cold December here, with lots of snow already. Tromping about campus with nothing covering your ears isn’t very pleasant, so I decided I want to make this hat. I bought some cute fleece with stripes when it was on sale a two weeks ago. Then this past week, I had my first final on Monday. Afterwords I just needed a break, and I sat down to sew this hat.

It has a sizing guide on the back so I measured and used the size it told me to, cut it out, and sewed it up. It came together REALLY quickly. Less than an hour from opening the pattern to trying it on. At the time, I found it interesting the way they had you finish the seams with a straight stitch on the inside and a zigzag in the seam allowance.

It calls for a stretchy fleece, so it seemed to me that you should be using a zigzag to allow it to stretch. Maybe I should have listened to myself because I finished the hat part and tried it on, and it was too small. Not so small I couldn’t wear it if I needed to or anything, but just too small at the seam between the ear covering part and the top hat part. With no stretch what so ever!

Fortunately, my best friend apparently has a smaller head than I do and it found a new home with her!

You can kind of see how wonky the stripes are in that picture. You should really read the construction details before deciding how you’re going to match the strips. I didn’t do that. I just figured this piece went to that piece and they should match… oh right about there. Didn’t quite work

I was kind of bummed because I didn’t have a ton of that fabric left and definitely not enough for a whole new hat. After giving Natalie her new hat, I came home and made another one, out of the ugly brown fabric. And I cut the size bigger.

I told you it was ugly.

As I was getting really to attach the headband/ear warmer part to the hat part, I thought, Eureka! I’ll piece together enough of the cute stuff for the top! And have a brown headband part! And it will be adorable!

So I frankenfleeced the hat part together and sewed it up, finished the whole hat and loved it.

The only problems I had with the pattern are sizing or placement related. The balaclava is supposed to be attached 1.5″ from either side of the back seam. When I did this, I couldn’t get any part of it over my head. So I’m attaching it with sew on snaps. If I make it a third time out of better fleece, I’m going to shorten the height of the headband part, and the front of the hat part. It looks a little goofy now, but its so cozy!

I’ve gotten a ton of compliments on it and I’m quite proud of it. I think how it came out looks rather RTW so that’s cool, and I think thats why everyone (myself included) is so impressed that I made it.

It was a quick easy project that I’d recommend if you need a toasty hat!